Denise Whiting cried, was scolded by Chef Gordon Ramsay and then hugged out months of drama on tonight's "Kitchen Nightmares" episode featuring Whiting, who Baltimoreans -- and the staff of her Hampden theme restaurant Cafe Hon -- love to hate. The show did an exceptionally good job of explaining the controversy that mired Cafe Hon and Whiting for the better part of a year. If you knew nothing about Whiting and "Hon" trademark, you'd come away with an accurate understanding of how the story played out in Baltimore.

All's well at Cafe Hon , and Chef Gordon Ramsay is very pleased. That was the message of Friday night's "Kitchen Nightmares" on Fox, as Ramsay revisited the Hampden eatery where he was instrumental in tamping down a war that had erupted over owner Denise Whiting's decision to trademark the word "Hon. " After recounting Ramsay's initial visit to the restaurant, in fall 2011, the segment got down to brass tacks. First, he stopped in to see MIX 106.5's JoJo and Reagan, who assured him that, as far as they knew, things were going just fine at Cafe Hon. The food was better, they said, the staff seemed happier -- the first piece portrayed them as primed for a full-scale revolt -- and the community seemed ready to let bygones be bygones, especially once Whiting made good on her promise to let go of the trademark.

Chef Gordon Ramsay, whose visit to Hampden's Cafe Hon in the fall of 2011 helped diffuse the tension from owner Denise Whiting's attempt to trademark the word "Hon," returned to see just how much good his earlier visit accomplished. The "Kitchen Nightmares" episode featuring the return visit airs Friday. Many area residents and one-time customers -- infuriated over Whiting's attempt to control what they viewed as a unique piece of "Bawlamerese" -- had been boycotting the business and pillorying its owner.

Chef Gordon Ramsay, whose visit to Hampden's Cafe Hon in the fall of 2011 helped diffuse the tension from owner Denise Whiting's attempt to trademark the word "Hon," returned to see just how much good his earlier visit accomplished. The "Kitchen Nightmares" episode featuring the return visit airs Friday. Many area residents and one-time customers -- infuriated over Whiting's attempt to control what they viewed as a unique piece of "Bawlamerese" -- had been boycotting the business and pillorying its owner.

All's well at Cafe Hon , and Chef Gordon Ramsay is very pleased. That was the message of Friday night's "Kitchen Nightmares" on Fox, as Ramsay revisited the Hampden eatery where he was instrumental in tamping down a war that had erupted over owner Denise Whiting's decision to trademark the word "Hon. " After recounting Ramsay's initial visit to the restaurant, in fall 2011, the segment got down to brass tacks. First, he stopped in to see MIX 106.5's JoJo and Reagan, who assured him that, as far as they knew, things were going just fine at Cafe Hon. The food was better, they said, the staff seemed happier -- the first piece portrayed them as primed for a full-scale revolt -- and the community seemed ready to let bygones be bygones, especially once Whiting made good on her promise to let go of the trademark.

Update: The timing of the Cafe Hon's participation in the Habitat for Humanity's Women Build project, on the weekend it was being filmed for a "Kitchen Nightmares" episode, struck some observers as too coincidental. Surely, naysayers wondered (or came right out and said), the rehab shift was orchestrated by the producers of "Kitchen Nightmares," who would come down to film the Cafe Hon crew on the job site. On Saturday morning, I found the Hon crew -- employees, friends and longtime customers -- split between two Habitat for Humanity sites, one in Patterson Place and another a few blocks away in McElderry Park, where a corner house on Jefferson Street was being readied for a Monday morning dedication.

Oh, that's right. Cafe Hon is a restaurant. It would have been easy, last year, to mistake Denise Whiting's Hampden establishment for almost anything else. It was only in November, when Whiting announced she was rescinding her controversial "hon" trademark, that the municipal emergency surrounding Cafe Hon subsided. Two months after the TV show "Kitchen Nightmares" gave it a wholesale makeover, Cafe Hon has settled back nicely into its primary business of serving food to customers — lots of them, too. On recent visits spanning several weeks, the Hampden restaurant was full of patrons, many but by no means all of them families with young children.

After almost a year of simmering controversy, Cafe Hon owner Denise Whiting said Monday that she will relinquish her "Hon" trademark. "I'll take it off the register," she said. "It was never mine to have in the first place. " Her trademark announcement, which she made on a morning radio program with reality TV chef Gordon Ramsay, was wrapped in an apology. "I am sorry for the animosity and the hatred and everything that trademarking a word has done," Whiting said. "Trademarking the word has not only almost killed me but has just about killed the business.

Gordon Ramsay will find no nightmares at Cafe Hon. No one has any reason to believe that Cafe Hon's kitchen is the horror show that many people associate with "Kitchen Nightmares. " Not all nightmares are alike. An occasional "Kitchen Nightmares" focuses on a personality problem that threatens a restaurant's well-being. Presumably, Whitings' public relations travails are what got a producer's attention. Hardly anyone seems to remember the original Cafe Hon, a little lunchroom Whiting operated for a few years before moving across 36th Street to its current location in 1995.

Denise Whiting will be watching Friday night's "Kitchen Nightmares" episode featuring her restaurant in the cozy confines of Cafe Hon - in the attached Hon Bar, to be specific. Cafe Hon is bringing in a big-screen TV for the viewing, which is open to the public but booked solid, Whiting says. Whiting said she hasn't seen the show yet but has seen the promos for the episode that have been running on the local Fox affiliate. "I'm really grateful to Gordon Ramsay and his team for dealing with everyone here so graciously.

Denise Whiting cried, was scolded by Chef Gordon Ramsay and then hugged out months of drama on tonight's "Kitchen Nightmares" episode featuring Whiting, who Baltimoreans -- and the staff of her Hampden theme restaurant Cafe Hon -- love to hate. The show did an exceptionally good job of explaining the controversy that mired Cafe Hon and Whiting for the better part of a year. If you knew nothing about Whiting and "Hon" trademark, you'd come away with an accurate understanding of how the story played out in Baltimore.

Oh, that's right. Cafe Hon is a restaurant. It would have been easy, last year, to mistake Denise Whiting's Hampden establishment for almost anything else. It was only in November, when Whiting announced she was rescinding her controversial "hon" trademark, that the municipal emergency surrounding Cafe Hon subsided. Two months after the TV show "Kitchen Nightmares" gave it a wholesale makeover, Cafe Hon has settled back nicely into its primary business of serving food to customers — lots of them, too. On recent visits spanning several weeks, the Hampden restaurant was full of patrons, many but by no means all of them families with young children.

What would a hon do in this situation? Denise Whiting, the Café Hon owner who roiled a city by trademarking its signature term of endearment, who sought to micromanage the kitsch (and free speech) at a street festival, and who at various points claimed to have more or less codified hon culture, has apologized and promised to give up her legal claim, whatever it truly was, to the commercial use of the word "hon. " Would a hon turn the other heavily-rouged cheek? Probably, but it's going to take some time for Ms. Whiting to erase the ill will she needlessly brought on herself.

After almost a year of simmering controversy, Cafe Hon owner Denise Whiting said Monday that she will relinquish her "Hon" trademark. "I'll take it off the register," she said. "It was never mine to have in the first place. " Her trademark announcement, which she made on a morning radio program with reality TV chef Gordon Ramsay, was wrapped in an apology. "I am sorry for the animosity and the hatred and everything that trademarking a word has done," Whiting said. "Trademarking the word has not only almost killed me but has just about killed the business.

What would a hon do in this situation? Denise Whiting, the Café Hon owner who roiled a city by trademarking its signature term of endearment, who sought to micromanage the kitsch (and free speech) at a street festival, and who at various points claimed to have more or less codified hon culture, has apologized and promised to give up her legal claim, whatever it truly was, to the commercial use of the word "hon. " Would a hon turn the other heavily-rouged cheek? Probably, but it's going to take some time for Ms. Whiting to erase the ill will she needlessly brought on herself.

By DAVID ZURAWIK and DAVID ZURAWIK,david.zurawik@baltsun.com | November 6, 2008

Tina Fey and Oprah Winfrey. Are there two bigger female stars in pop culture today? In truth, the only thing that probably matters to most readers about previews like this is the news that the two appear together tonight in Fey's Emmy Award-winning 30 Rock. That alone will likely guarantee the largest audience the series has ever known, and it is already looking like a pretty good ratings year for the sitcom about life backstage at a fictional NBC TV series. After a critically acclaimed but ratings-challenged season last year, 30 Rock opened last week with a bang, winning its highly competitive time period in the key demographics of men ages 18 to 49 and men ages 18 to 34. It did that against CSI (CBS)